On 27 January 2016, the National Bank of Ukraine held its first Open Reserch Seminar which provided scholars, experts, analysts and and business representitives with an opportunity to take part in a discussion.
Dr. Tor Jacobson, Head of the Research Department at Sveriges Riksbank was the keynote speaker at the seminar where he presened the findings of the paper on “Curbing Shocks to Corporate Liquidity: The Role of Trade Credit”. The research was carried out jointly with scholars the Stockholm School of Economics, Sveriges Riksbank and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Dr. Tor Jacobson pointed out that theoretical and empirical research is mainly focused on the buffer motive that plays a prominent role for firms’ choices of cash holdings, while in this paper researchers suggest adjustment capacity at the trade credit margins—accounts payable and receivable — make for important sources of reserve liquidity. Trade credit can be used as an efficient instrument to prevent corporate liquidity shortfalls in the context of limited access to credit resources. Importantly, this problem is especially relevant to EM countries, including Ukraine.
Exogenous liquidity shortfalls generated by the fraud and failure of a cash-in-transit firm provide an opportunity to show a causal effect on the role of trade credit. This unique event provides an opportunity to derive causal inference on the roles played by cash holdings, and trade credit margins to handle liquidity shortfalls. The research findings suggest that firms handle adverse liquidity shocks by drawing down on their cash holdings, by increasing the amount of drawn credit from suppliers (payables), and by decreasing the amount of issued credit to suppliers (receivables). In terms of magnitude, trade credit adjustments are found to be of the same order as adjustments in cash or even greater. By exploring the underlying mechanism of the trade credit adjustments, the researchers find evidence suggesting that the observed changes are due to shifts in the time dimension, where firms in need of liquidity increase durations on the trade credit contracts upstream and reduce them downstream. The research findings suggest that trade credit positions provide important sources of reserve liquidity.
The NBU has held Open Research Seminars since 2015. These seminars are intended to promote communication and interaction, as well as to provide an efficient platform for high-level expert discussions focused on issues related to the financial system's operation and activities of central banks. These seminars provide reserchers and experts with opportunities to exchange ideas and experience with foreign peers, thus contributing to the development of the national research potential and promoting the dissemination and practical application of research findings.
We invite potential contributors to participate in the upcoming seminars and present the findings of their research studies. To this end, please send your submissions (CV, abstract, with an indication of a suitable date for the seminar to take place. Please send your proposals to the Research Division of the Monetary Policy and Economic Analysis Department for consideration via e-mail to: [email protected]